


Selfish Principles

by Corycides



Series: 100 Fics in 100 Days [25]
Category: Revolution (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-27 08:26:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corycides/pseuds/Corycides
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They laughed the first time they made love, but after the Blackout Rachel and Ben couldn't even talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Selfish Principles

Their 'meet-cute' had been academic, a debate of theory versus application that spilled out of the classroom to lunch and then coffee. She thought he was arrogant; he thought she was unfocused. They finished the row in bed, laughing at their nerdy selves between kisses, and that was it. Maybe they never been romantic-comedy passionate – tearing their clothes off, any where or any when – but they had been good together.

What was it they told the couples counsellor after Danny was born – when the shifts in hospital and pressure of Flynn (not that they could tell the nice, plump woman with pastel shift dresses about that) had left them mute and confused with each other?

'There's nothing lacking in the bedroom department.'

Not true anymore. At first, terrified and trying to be brave for Charlie and Danny, it had been easy to just put it off. Every couple did, didn't they? Too tired after a long day at work, a dicky tummy after his brother's dubious chili, a sick child or looters hunting them whooping through empty streets. 

Eventually, however, they ran out of excuses. The children were asleep, they were safe in an abandoned cottage (a doctor's country get-away from the pictures and magazines) and the sofa was ridiculously comfortable after what they were used to. Rachel put a hand on his thigh and and he pulled her down on top of them.

He touched her where he knew she liked to be touched, his fingers counting between the fine slats of her ribs and cupping the full weight of her breasts. Dark hair tickled her collarbone as he kissed his way over her shoulder, his lips finding the soft, scented bend of her arm. Rachel pulled his jeans down and stroked him hard with long fingers, lying back on the cushions and opening her legs to him.

The weight of him on top as he thrust into her made heat curl pleasantly in her stomach, but it was...mechanical. She hugged him closer, wrapping her legs around him and burying her face in his shoulder. The soft grunt of their breath, the barely there creak of the sofa, was the only sound.

Rachel tried to think of something to say, but their guilt smothered every thought. How could they talk about anything other than how he'd sold out the world for money; how she'd sacrificed all those dead children they'd seen on the way here, so she could have the warm weight of her son in her arms; how she'd murdered a man for tins of soup and hot dogs and how he hadn't. 

She hung on the brink of nice, until the lick of his tongue on her nipple and fumble of his fingers between her thighs started to make her flinch.

She faked it, muting a mewling whimper against his shoulder and digging her nails into his back. He gave a relieved sigh and relaxed into selfishness, thrusting her down into the cushions with rough, uneven strokes until he came.

With the warmth of his come still cooling inside her, he rolled over onto side and tucked himself around with familiar ease. Rachel lay quietly until he started to snore, then slid her hand down to wriggle her fingers through the fine blonde curls. The stickiness of him wet her fingers.

How long, it occurred to her, did she have left on her depo-provera shot? She could remember the physical movement of her thumbs as she tapped the appointment in, but not the date. A month? Less maybe, probably not more. Her brain fretted over the logistics of contraception as she worked her fingers through the slippery, wet folds of her sex.

She came with a shudder and a whimper bitten back between tight lips. Ben shifted and nuzzled the nape of her neck, his hand slipping over her hip to dangle against her belly. She reached down and curled her fingers in his.

They'd be all right. Once they had time, they'd be all right.

And they did. It wasn't easy, and it took a long time, but they had Charlie and Danny to help fill the awkward moments and survival to fill the time they used to talk. She trusted Ben to take care of her children and he trusted her to deal with Miles when word came that he was looking for them.

She didn't remember ever laughing with him again, but after everything they'd done – maybe they didn't deserve to.


End file.
